Shattered Dreams: Sermons from the Book of Ruth

Dr. Patrick Mead

Series: Ruth

Shattered Dreams: Dead End or Doorway?

Ruth 1:1-5; Judges 21:25; Jeremiah 29:11

Go ahead and take your copy of God's Word and turn to the first chapter of the book of Ruth. We're looking at the first five verses this morning. I have the wonderful privilege of every once in a while going to play golf. Coach Marvel takes me to play golf, and every once in a while, we play with a guy by the name of Ed Alvarez.

So one day we're playing golf, and Ed is my partner. I told Ed that I prayed for my golf game. He kind of laughed because he thought I was kidding. I wasn't kidding. I pray for my golf game. I need it. He went on to say, "I don't pray for my golf game…" Of course, that's easy for him to say. He can play. He said, "…because God has bigger things to deal with than my golf game."

Now I would agree with that. In the grand scheme of things, my golf game really isn't that important. It's important to me and probably to the person who is on my team, but really in the grand scheme of things, it's not that important. However, I would disagree with the thought that God doesn't really care about the insignificant things in our lives.

I believe in the providence of God: that is, God is absolutely actively involved in every aspect of our lives. God didn't just create us and leave us on our own. No, God created us, and he is intimately involved with the details of our lives. Now even though my golf game, when it comes to God's unfolding purposes… I doubt it's connected with that. I find great comfort in knowing that God does care for the insignificant things. He does care for those things we would consider unimportant. God wants to be involved in our lives. He does.

What we need to do, what we need to understand is the theological term where we're talking about God's activity in our daily lives… We call that providence. That's the theological term. The providence of God. Understanding the providence of God is crucial when it comes to living a life in a culture that is constantly challenging our faith.

That is true about the book of Ruth, and it's true today. There's great comfort in knowing and great security in knowing this one truth: God is in control. Our God is an eternal God, but he is also a personal God. That means he is involved with the details of our lives. Some people have a hard time with this. Some people have a hard time with this whole concept that God is actively involved with the small, minute details of our lives.

When Jesus taught us how to pray… We call it the Lord's Prayer. It's really not the Lord's Prayer. Jesus never had to ask for forgiveness. It's really the disciples' prayer. When he was teaching us how to pray, do you remember what he said? He said to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Why would he ask us to do that? Because he is intimately involved in every detail of our lives. God is active in our lives.

So as we come to the book of Ruth, we're starting a series I call Everyday God, God's activity in everyday life. For the next seven weeks, we'll be gleaning some wonderful, wonderful truth from this small, four-chapter book, but a very, very important book. Very important. Even though this was written 1,200 years before Christ, let me kind of give you a background to what Ruth was encountering.

Listen to what it says in verse 1: "In the days when the judges ruled…" So that sets the background for us. That tells us this is happening during the time of judges. It's happening during the time of judges. Really that was a time in the history of Israel, one of the many times, where they were disobedient to God.

In fact, the book of Judges says over and over again that the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they served the Baals. The last verse of the last chapter of the book of Judges sums it up very well. The writer of Judges says, "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his eyes." Everyone was doing evil. So the situation that's taking place some 1200 BC is one of faithlessness.

So the book of Ruth is really refreshing in the fact that Ruth's faith is in stark contrast to the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel. So it's in this climate of apostasy, unfaithfulness, that this beautiful story, the story of Ruth, unfolds. It's a story of faith. It's a story of loyalty. It's a story of love. It's a story of redemption. It's also a story of God's activity in everyday life, God's providence in everyday life.

As I was saying, even though this happened 3,200 years apart from us, the events of Ruth are still taking place today. God is actively involved in our lives. It is my prayer that as we continue this study over the next seven weeks, we begin to see God's activity in our lives more and more. It's my prayer over the next seven weeks that we begin to see everything is connected to God's purpose.

That means everything that happens in our lives is connected to God's purpose. Everything that happens in history is connected to God's purpose. That means our life has purpose. Our life has meaning. Our life has value. "Everyday God" means God is with us always, and he cares for us. He rules over us. He provides for us. So we begin the story today, and the story begins with tragedy. In fact, you could say that the first five verses are all about shattered dreams. A great question is…Are these shattered dreams a dead end, or are they a doorway?

Well, we learn in the first five verses, first of all, that discomfort can lead to distrust. Again, verse 1 really sets the background for our narrative. For it tells us, "In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons."

So the discomfort they were experiencing during this time was famine. The severity of the famine is revealed in the fact that even Bethlehem, which means house of bread, or house of grainery, the abundant source of grain, was experiencing famine in the land. The land of Israel was experiencing famine.

Now the author doesn't tell us why. He doesn't tell us this famine was either a tool of discipline from the Lord or if it was just something that happens by living in a sinful world. It doesn't say. I think the author left it open for a reason because the experiences that are happening here could apply to any family at any time.

Now I would suggest to you that one of the reasons they're facing famine in the land at this point is because of the disobedience and the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel. We have to remember the author doesn't tell us, but he gives us the opportunity to speculate on it. I think we can accurately speculate, if we put it into context, that this famine is a direct result of the unfaithfulness of God's people.

The very fact that it was happening during the time of judges… It was a time when God's people were constantly turning their backs on the Lord. They were breaking the covenant of the Lord. They were turning their backs on God and turning to the false gods. The Lord warned his people in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, "If you turn your back on me, if you turn to false gods, I will bring enmity into the land. I will destroy the crops. I will withhold the seasonal rains." That's what famine is. Famine comes about because God brings about a drought.

So they're having a drought. That's why I believe what they're experiencing here, as the people of Israel, was the direct result of God's discipline. They were unfaithful to God, and now he was disciplining them. Now again, the author doesn't tell us this. He lets us read into it. He leaves it wide open. I believe he does so so we can apply it to any situation.

This man and this family could be any family. The discomfort they're going through could be any discomfort we experience this side of heaven, whether it be for the purpose of correction, like this one, or for the purpose of perfection. When you find yourself in those circumstances where you are experiencing discomfort, the choices we make as believers are very, very important.

This man had to make a choice. We don't have his name yet. We don't even know the names of his family members yet, but we're told in the very first verse that this man made a decision. Based upon the discomfort of the famine, he made a decision. That decision was to leave the house of bread, Bethlehem, and to go to the country of Moab.

Now I believe he purposed to go there at first for a very short time: the very fact that he says his family went there to sojourn. Can you really blame this man? Think about it. Can you really blame him? The logical choice is, "Hey, what's best for your family?" When he made this decision, the situation is basically to go where the grass is greener. So can we really blame him for this decision?

If you think about the situation in Israel, there was a lot of political unrest. They didn't have a king. They didn't have a king at all. They had judges time and time again, and these judges would be lifted up and delivered. So there was this political unrest. There was instability. Of course, there was the economy. It was terrible.

So this man made a decision to leave Bethlehem, and he's in good company. If you look to the Scriptures, you find Abraham. He left the Promised Land. He went to Egypt. Isaac went to Philistia. Jacob, of course, went to Egypt with the whole family. That's when Joseph was there. So from looking at it, from a human perspective, it looks like he made a good decision. Or did he?

Let's look at verse 2. Let's meet this man. It says, "The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there." I want to suggest to you that this man did not make a good decision. In fact, I want to show you from the text that this man made the decision because of his inability to trust the Lord. He took things in his own hands.

First, the names of the people. Remember in the Old Testament, names are very, very important and the meaning of those names. The first name, of course, the man's name is Elimelech, which means my God is king. That name really reveals the faith of his parents. His parents saw that baby boy and said, "My God is King." That was a demonstration of their faith.

Then there is Naomi. Her name means pleasant. Then there are the two sons. Mahlon… Do you know what it means? Sickly. Have you ever heard anybody name their child puny? "Hey, come here, puny." That's basically what Mahlon means. He is puny. Then there, of course, is Chilion, which means, really, to come to an end. It has this idea that it's death.

What's interesting is Elimelech did not use this opportunity to demonstrate his faith like his parents did. Why? Because his faith had faltered. He was no longer focused on the Lord. All he could do is look at his circumstances, and they were bad. There was a famine in the land. So really the names of his children reveal this man had lost his focus of God. He saw his circumstances, and so he names his kids after the circumstances. Sickly, puny, and death. I believe that is evidence of a man who has stopped trusting in God. He has lost his focus.

Secondly, they were Ephrathites. Scholars believe this was royalty. They had money. So they're in a famine. You know the old saying: If you don't have anything, you don't have anything to lose. Well, they had something. They had something to lose. I believe the circumstances caused him to go to the country of Moab to take things into his own hands. Discomfort can lead to distrust.

Thirdly, Yahweh does not appear in these verses. In all the book of Ruth, there are actually six scenes. You will find the name of the Lord, Yahweh, in every scene except one: the first five verses. This means he didn't consult God about this decision.

Plus, there's also a syntactical link between these two verses and the story of Abraham going to Egypt, Genesis, chapter 12, verse 10. There is a syntactical link here. In Genesis 12, Abraham, instead of trusting God in the Promised Land, took things into his own hands. He went to Egypt. Elimelech, instead of trusting God in the house of bread, at Bethlehem, took things into his own hands. He went to the country of Moab. Discomfort can lead to distrust.

Here's what Matthew Henry said about this passage. "It is an evidence of a discontented, distrustful, unstable spirit, to be weary of the place in which God has set us, and to be leaving it immediately whenever we meet with any uneasiness or inconvenience in it." Discomfort can lead to distrust. When that happens, distrust will lead to devastation.

It's very, very easy to justify disobedience in our hearts and even call it the will of God. I really believe Elimelech was thinking, "I think I'll help God out in this famine. I think I'll help him out. I think I'll go to the country of Moab. I hear it's doing well." It's not that far away, by the way, in terms of getting a vehicle and going. Of course, they didn't have a vehicle. It's only 50-60 miles away. It was okay there.

Here's how it starts. Disobedience and distrust happen gradually. Again, I believe Elimelech had all the plans. He was probably thinking, "Hey, I'll go there just for a short while, and then I'll come back." I believe that is what is suggested in verse 1. When it says they went to sojourn in the country of Moab, that word sojourn means to go somewhere temporarily. That was his original plan, but he left that original plan. We're told in the very last part of verse 2, "They went into the country of Moab and remained there."

Distrust, when you take things into your own hands, will lead to devastation. I want you to see the immediate consequences and then the long-term consequences that came about because of Elimelech's decision to take things into his own hands and not trust the Lord. Look at verse 3. There is an immediate consequence. It says, "But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons."

He left the house of bread because he thought, probably, "If I don't leave, we're going to die." So he takes things into his own hands, only to find out that he actually ran to the very thing he was running from: death. In his pursuit of a better life he made things worse for him and his family. Why? How did that happen? He let his discomfort lead him to distrust, and he stopped trusting in God. He took things into his own hands.

Now look at the long-term consequences. So his wife is left with the two sons. It says in verse 4, "These [Mahlon and Chilion] took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about 10 years." Now instead of going back to Bethlehem after Dad died, Naomi and the two sons (and probably under the influence of the two sons, because they were the ones who were going to take care of Naomi), decided, "Hey, we're going to stay here."

They stayed there another 10 years, probably because they were more comfortable with the pagan culture of Moab than they were of Israel. I think the very fact that they're marrying Moabite wives shows their condition. Here's what happened. These two boys grew up. Puny and Death grew up. The very names reveal their daddy wasn't trusting in God. So they grew up watching their dad not trust in the Lord, and guess what happened? They followed in Elimelech's footsteps. They followed in Daddy's footsteps.

Oh, it gets worse, because it says in verse 4, "They lived there about ten years…" Then we come to verse 5: "…and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman [Naomi] was left without her two sons and her husband." Do you know what we call verse 5? Shattered dreams. She had nothing. She lost her husband. She lost her two sons. All she had left were her two daughters-in-law, and guess what? They didn't have much to offer her.

So her dreams are shattered. No husband. No children. No hopes of grandchildren now. She was just hoping she could have her basic needs met on a daily basis. I imagine here's Naomi going, "Oh my goodness. My dreams are shattered. I'm at a dead end in life. There's no way out. There's no way out."

Here's the good news. There is. I want you to think about a couple of things here before we move on, about this whole idea that distrust will lead to devastation. How many times have we made decisions based upon common sense or logical standard without consulting the Lord or his Word? I think we need to be very careful to examine ourselves, myself included. How many times have we acted like Elimelech? We profess to be Christians, but do we really walk by faith?

Those of us who are husbands and fathers, are we leading our families down the road of faith or a pathway of tragedy and devastation and destruction? Do our families, do our wives and children, see us living a life of faith every day? Do they see within us an abiding trust in Christ Jesus, and that trust is what guides every aspect of our lives?

When problems come our way and we start experiencing discomfort, husbands, dads, do we let them push us toward God or away from God? All of us have experienced the pain and consequences of distrust, and not only our own distrust. Elimelech's affected his whole family. Sometimes we're affected by somebody else's. Distrust leads to devastation.

Here's what I like about the book of Ruth, though. The book of Ruth is a great reminder to the child of God that God really does work all things together for the good of those who love him and are called by him. The story of Ruth is about… What we need to understand is even though there are regrets in our lives and even though we may have made mistakes, we have this wonderful assurance as God's children's that all things work together for good. God can even use our foolishness, and yes, God can use our mistakes for his glory. That's what the story of Ruth is about. God intervened.

So with God, and in God's economy, shattered dreams don't have to be a dead-end. In fact, in God's economy, devastation can actually become a doorway for God to do great things. Devastation can become a doorway for God to do great things. Let me give you a couple of truths really quickly. Here's what we can learn from Elimelech. This is something God gave me just in my own personal life.

Stop running from the famine, and start trusting God in the famine. Otherwise, you will always be in the famine. Realize God is good to those who wait. When we don't wait and when we take things into our own hands and we experience devastation, the Bible is all about God taking devastation and turning it into a doorway of opportunity.

Genesis, chapter 3, is a devastating time in the history of humanity because we fell, but it became a doorway for God to do some great things, right? Mainly send his Son to redeem us from our sins. That's what the Bible is about. It's about God taking devastation, taking shattered dreams and using those shattered dreams to become a doorway of opportunity for God to do great things.

One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11. I'm sure many of you have memorized that. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare, not for calamity, not for evil, to give you a hope, to give you a future.'" Now we all love that verse, but before that verse, you have verse 10.

In fact, you have to put that verse in the context of the book of Jeremiah. God says, "For I know the plans I have for you…" but before that, he says in verse 10 (and I want to read that to you), "For thus says the LORD: 'When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.'" The 70 years of exile came about because of devastation. They turned their backs on God.

In God's economy, devastation doesn't have to be a dead-end. Some of you have made mistakes. You're thinking, "Man, God can't use me then. I'm at a dead end. There's no way out." Devastation can become a doorway for God to do great things. If you're here this morning and your marriage didn't turn out the way you thought it would be, your family didn't turn out the way you thought it would be, your dreams are shattered, do you know what God says to you? "For I know the plans I have for you…"

Your financial portfolio isn't what you thought it would be at this time. Now you're looking to the future, and that future you planned for is not going to happen. Your financial dreams are now shattered. Do you know what God says to you? "For I know the plans I have for you…" Some of you are here this morning, and you've made decisions in the past. You have regrets. You are wondering, "Am I at a dead end? Is there any way out?" Here's what God says to you: "For I know the plans I have for you…"

Devastation doesn't have to be a dead-end if you belong to God; devastation can be a doorway for God to do some great things in your life. Shattered dreams… If you belong to God, trust in him, because God can take those shattered dreams and use them as a doorway to do great things in your life. Shattered dreams? Trust in Christ. Return to him. God will take care of you.

If you're here this morning and you've never trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, that's the most important decision you can make in life. That decision is to place your faith in Jesus Christ, to understand that you're a sinner in need of a Savior and that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and on the third day he rose to life. The Bible says if we'll confess with our mouth that Jesus was Lord and believe in our hearts God raised him from the dead, we can be saved. You can be saved this morning. God wants to save you this morning.

If you're here today and you're not a part of a church family, I believe if you have a family, you have a mini-church, and that mini-church needs to be part of a local church. If you sense God calling you to this church today, I'm going to ask you to get up and come up here and say, "We want to be a part of this church family. We want to serve the Lord here."

If today you're here and your dreams are shattered and you're broken, you're in a very good place for God to do some great things. If you need prayer today, I want to pray with you. We'll have pastors in the back, pastors upfront. We'll pray with you. If you're not comfortable with coming up during the invitation, you can come out to the reception area. I'd love to talk with you there as well. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your Word today. We thank you that with you, shattered dreams are not a dead-end but a doorway for you to do great things in our lives if we'll just humble ourselves this morning.

God, we just pray for that person who doesn't know Christ here this morning, for that man or woman who is sitting here today who has shattered dreams and they think they're in a dead-end. Lord, give them hope today. Remind them that you have a plan for their life, that you want to give them purpose and meaning and value in Christ Jesus. We thank you for this Word. We give you all the glory. Have your way during this time of invitation. In Jesus' name, amen.